The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-09-17
English Snobbery and French Equality
in London and Paris.
From the PhAadelphia telegraph.


But, greatly as admire the English ma
ton in many respects, there is one of its pc
culiar idiosyncrasies that never fails to irri-
tate the republican nature that | brought
from the land of my birth, and which has
been fostered by fourteen years residence
in the land of my adoption. And that is
the all-pervading snobbery-the blind wor-
ship of and cringing subServience to rank,
considered as rank merely, and quite apart
from any mental or moral qualities enjoyed
by its possessor. AS an instance of this
strange defect in so great a people it must
be remembered that no tradesman, however
wealthy, can have his sons, no matter how
promising and intelligent the boys may be,
received at first-class private school. All
such are reserved for the children of ''the
nobility and gentry" And the great man
ufacturers of England, despite their vast
wealth, their splendid homes, and their I'M
deniable fitness for any society, no matter
how refined or elevated, are not accepted
| even as acquaintance by the Earl Of This
or the Marquis of Tother. Their lordships
will not even condescend to be introduced
to such people But the middle class of
England deserve no better treatment on the
part of those that they are only too willing
10 own as their superiors. | once heard a
talented English actress allude to the aris-
tocracy as those before whom we are ready
to crawl on our stomachs to get them TO
patronize us" In England Froude and
Browning and Matthew Arnold might all
be hidden to feast, and Lord Whipper-
snapper, boy of ~, with a skull as guilt
less of brains as is the shell of a pumpkin
would be given precedence over each and
all of them did he chance to be their fellow
guest.
Deep down in the souls of the French ma
ton, on the contrary, dwells the old fierce
conviction of equality, implanted there
during the DAYS of 93. Since that time
they have more than once unwisely and I'M
thinkingly relinquished their liberty; they
have forgotten fraternity amid scenes of
carnage and destruction, but they have
never ceased to cling to the principle of
equality.
In France no privileged parsonage or class
has the power to sway the convictions of
the public respecting any artistic, or lite
rary or even commercial question. The
Comte de Paris, or NJ Grevy, or all the
Faubourg st. German combined, could
never lift into sudden fame picture or
painter as the Prince of Wales, years ago,
with few words of enthusiastic commel-
dation' elevated the female battle painter,
Miss Elizabeth Thompson. No play or per-
former in France owes success TO the pat
ronage of any one person or group OF per-
sons. No dressmaker or milliner in Paris
achieves distinction by supplying the ladies
of the French nobility. The sons of man
ufacturers and merchants frequent the same
schools as do the younger scions of the Or
leans family, and the little princelings have
more than once had a hard time of it among
their republican schoofellows.
But perhaps the difference between the
two nations may be best exemplified in the
following experiment: Let any well-dressed
man 20 forth into the streets of Paris and
jos1le against workman so as TO push him
of the sidewalk. Then, when the man be-
gins 90 grow abusive, let his aggressor draw
himself up and remark. Fellow, / am the
Due de Luynes" The answer, delivered
with much profanity, undoubtedly that he
tho workingman) has ms much right TO the
sidewalk as any duke and no will stand no
nonsepsc from anybody, be he prince or
peer. Hbut let the same experiment be tried
In I.ondon and the man that Is showed, as
soon as he hears that his Antagonist n
duke. viii be ready 20 60 down on his knees
% ltisa his LOrdsbips boots and % beg his
Lordship's pardon Tor having gotten into
his I,ordshiDk way